Question about scorpions/tarantulas in GTO. Need help please!

My girlfriend and I are considering staying in Guanajuato for six months this summer. We've done a lot of research, and if all goes well while we're there we'll most likely make a permanent move.

We're both pretty cultured and enjoy experiencing life outside the monotonous and predictable Americanized comfort zone. With that being said, the thought of potentially lethal scorpions and tarantulas the size of my hand crawling on me at night has me pretty freaked out.

If anyone with living experience in GTO can shed some light on this issue it would be greatly appreciated. I understand that they're there, and I can accept and move past that; my level of concern is renting an apartment or house and finding them around every corner or having an infestation. That I would NOT be able to do.

I was reading an article and a lady mentioned that she gets stung six times a year on average! Is this really that big of a thing?? If anyone could please help me out I would really appreciate it.

Re: [greg728] Question about scorpions/tarantulas in GTO. Need help please!

We've been living in Guanajuato, Guanajuato for about 4 and a half months. I have never seen a tarantula but I have seen a few scorpians around the house. We recently had the house fumigated and haven't seen one recently, though. Are you planning on living in the city of Guanajuato or somewhere else within the state of Guanajuato? I ask, because what I have heard from the locals is that the scorpians in the city of Guanajuato are not dangerous, but a species of scorpian that is found in Leon requires the person that's bitten to have to go to the hospital.

I did a web search on scorpians and came up with the following statistic:

"There are at least 1,500 scorpion species, and only 25 of them produce a venom that causes serious harm to adult humans."

I wouldn't let a few scorpians deter you from coming down to Guanajuato. It's an amazing place.

Re: [waltw] Question about scorpions/tarantulas in GTO. Need help please!

We've been living in Guanajuato, Guanajuato for about 4 and a half months. I have never seen a tarantula but I have seen a few scorpians around the house. We recently had the house fumigated and haven't seen one recently, though. Are you planning on living in the city of Guanajuato or somewhere else within the state of Guanajuato? I ask, because what I have heard from the locals is that the scorpians in the city of Guanajuato are not dangerous, but a species of scorpian that is found in Leon requires the person that's bitten to have to go to the hospital.

I did a web search on scorpians and came up with the following statistic:

"There are at least 1,500 scorpion species, and only 25 of them produce a venom that causes serious harm to adult humans."

I wouldn't let a few scorpians deter you from coming down to Guanajuato. It's an amazing place.

Thank you so much for the response! I'm sorry, I should have been more clear. We are planning on staying in Guanajuato City.

If it's not too big of an issue then I can deal with that. I've just heard some people talk about it like I'm going to need to check my bed sheets every night before bed and that I will most definitely be stung. This is not your experience?

Re: [greg728] Question about scorpions/tarantulas in GTO. Need help please!

We have used a spray for the house that we originally got for a tick infestation. It is also very effective against scorpions. It is called Garacid and is available at any store that sells that sort of thing. Here we get it at the veterinarios(feed and seed type stores) in the mercado. It is not harmful to the indoor geckos but is effective against ticks, roaches and scorpions.

Re: [greg728] Question about scorpions/tarantulas in GTO. Need help please!

I haven't been stung yet, but as I said, I have seen them around the house a few times. I think if you're really concerned, I'd just have the apartment you choose to rent fumigated frequently, and that should reduce your risk. There's an aquantence of mine that has lived here nine years. He's been stung 7 times. He told me he applies garlic to the affected area to reduce the sting. I have no idea if this is a good idea or not, but that's what he does.

Re: [greg728] Question about scorpions/tarantulas in GTO. Need help please!

My wife and I were stung a few times while living in SMA. They seem to be prevalent around sites where construction is going on. A doctor advised taking an antihistimine as treatment. He also mentioned that the type located in Leon are the only potentially deadly ones in the state of Guanajuato. They are native to Durango but hitch-hike in shipments of leather hydes used in the shoemaking industry in Leon.

Re: [greg728] Question about scorpions/tarantulas in GTO. Need help please!

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We are in Cuernavaca - at about 5600 ft elevation. We have 4 indoor cats :-) In the year we have been in this house we have seen perhaps 5-6 dead scorpions (of various sizes and colors) and 1-2 live ones. That is in the house. We have lots in the garden. We've been told you need to be concerned with the white/tan ones.

We also have had 2 live 5-6" centipedes in the house. I'm kind of glad we found those suckers rather than the cats. We also have lots of fire-ants in the garden.

I picked up a 5 liter spray tank and a chemical called Biothrine - which is pet/family friendly - and spray the interior/exterior once a month.

Last year, in a rental house, at an elevation of perhaps 5000 ft (also in Cuernavaca) we had snakes and scorpions. Once the four cats had a snake cornered in the master bedroom - on the second floor !

When we lived in Florida we had several different types of snakes in the yard. In Texas we had many more scorpions than here in Cuernavaca. There they used to drop from the overhead air-conditioning ducts. We were also eating dinner outside one evening near the pool as a 4-5' rattlesnake swam the length of the pool.

I've only been stung by a scorpion once, about 40 years ago, as it crawled up my shorts as I laid on the sofa watching TV. I stuck my hand up my shorts to see what it was and got stung on my thumb. I waddled to the bathroom, shook out my shorts and saw the scorpion in the toilet.

Re: [lhpdiver1] Question about scorpions/tarantulas in GTO. Need help please!

It seems like being stung is inevitable. I'm from Pennsylvania and have been stung several times by wasps and bees. I still hate them but I've learned to accept them. I can learn to accept a few occasional scorpions, but the thought of having an infestation might make me want to pack my bags. We have 1 cat and will probably get another.

I have a few reptiles that I'll be taking with me and are very sensitive to sprays and the surrounding air, so fumigating and toxic sprays probably won't be used.

Re: [greg728] Question about scorpions/tarantulas in GTO. Need help please!

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If one of us were to be stung we would take a taxi to the Cruz Roja (Red Cross) about a 20 minute ride. The gardener's son was here last week helping out. I offered him a pair of gloves, he refused. A short time later he was stung - but shrugged it off. I'm allergic to bee stings but haven't been stung in perhaps 30+ years. Here we have these really huge bees (carpenter bees I believe) but they are nothing to be concerned with. We do have wasps.

Re: [greg728] Question about scorpions/tarantulas in GTO. Need help please!

Unless you are located near a construction site or where there are piles of wood, yard waste or some other similar spots to hang out - it has been our experience that one rarely even spots a scorpion or nasty spider. Each trip we make to Mexico, I find myself checking my shoes or under the covers for the first couple of days and then get complacent about doing so. So far have avoided being stung or bitten but YMMV.Regards, Neil Albuquerque, NM

Re: [lhpdiver1] Question about scorpions/tarantulas in GTO. Need help please!

I always shake my shoes too and look into them and a month ago there was a large black widoow in my shoe and that is more dangerous than a tarentula. We live at 5000 feet and at 7200 feet and I have never seen a tarentula in either place but I have seen lots of black widows. Tarentula bite are not dangerous unless you are alergic. I was in the jungle in Guatemala last year and our guide picked up a tarentula and started passing her from one person to another. Something bothered the tarentula when the guide grabed her and she stung or bit him. I thought it was well deserved..We could tell it was a painful bite but the guide did not have any major raction. Scorpions bites will not kill you either unless you have an allergic reaction and even there you can get a shot . I think the whie scorpions are more dangerous but I have not seen one in 13 years My husband and dogs were bitten , it was painful but they are not allergic and nothing happened to them either.

Re: [greg728] Question about scorpions/tarantulas in GTO. Need help please!

I live in rural Puebla. In the edge of a small village. We do get scorpions here, and in the house.

Neighbors do get stung, and more than once someone came to the door at night, asking for a ride to the government clinic. There have been allergic responses, usually they get very groggy and wobbly. The clinic does give them shots, that are very expensive, but are given free here.

There are other solutions. I learned about tenderizer in Boy Scouts in the US years ago. So, I got McCormicks tenderizer here. It is called Ablandador de Carne. Read it carefully because other spices come in identical packages. Garlic salt is not the same, heh, heh.

The active ingredient is papaina, a substance which comes from the milk of green papayas. The inert ingredients are : salt! So, you are limited in how much you can ingest.

Because we, I and kinfolk here, have learned it is necessary to consume a small quantity of the tenderizer for maximum effect.

How much? We do not have a number yet, except to say it will be much less than a small teaspoon. Put a bit on your finger, put it in your mouth and add a lot of water. I would highly recommend proceeding to your local clinic and take small amounts as you travel. Remember tenderizer is consumed when it is used as a meat tenderizer...

The one time I did it, before I got to the clinic the sting was already gone. No, I got stung twice, but the second time I did not know what stung me, but it worked the same. It acts like the instant the papaina hits the blood stream the poison evaporates. I joke if I get bit by a coral snake, I will try it but do not expect it to work.

Family members report if they go to the clinic and get the shot, the immediate danger of Anaphylactic shock goes away, but the location hurts for a month. With the tenderizer after one hour all the pain is gone.

My cousin is a very talented herbalist. He said the ancient treatment for scorpion sting was a poultice made of papaya leaves.

Another thing we do is go to Aurerra and buy Steren ultrasound pest repellers. (I say Aurrera only because I know they usually have them. They may be sold many places.) They look like small speakers and put out an ultrasound noise that we have proved over years stuns rats and mice, and kills lizards, and also keeps out most scorpions. We now get very few scorpions in the house, and when we do see one, it isn't moving fast. Tiny ultrasound devices such as sold at Home Depot just don't have enough power to do much good. Their figures would indicate we need 3 or 4 for our house, but we actually needed 8 before the invasions stopped.

We have got a very few mice, but that is very rare. Before, I had baby mice in my underwear drawer. Not nice.

No, ultrasound does not affect spiders. But, small animal pets may be harmed, I can't tell you for sure which animals it harms.

Re: [roberb7] Question about scorpions/tarantulas in GTO. Need help please!

I have less experience with ants. In Texas, they sometimes use boiling water poured in the holes. I try diatomaceous earth (sp?). I have no local source for DE; we bring it from Home Depot in Texas. Of course they have terrible chemicals as well, but that is only for last resort.

We have had major ant hills in the adjacent property. My builder comes with expensive horrid chemicals. He digs down frantically, and pours the stuff in the hill with all the ants squirming around. He then frantically covers them back up and runs like the wind. That is the end of that giant ant hill for at least two or three years.

Re: [RuralPuebla] Question about scorpions/tarantulas in GTO. Need help please!

I can see I did not technically describe "major ant hills." I mean not a blade of grass, nor a weed nor bush in a 20 foot area. I do not mean those little tiny hills one might find hidden in the grass in a yard in Missouri or Kansas.

Re: [chinagringo] Question about scorpions/tarantulas in GTO. Need help please!

I just got a call from my niece who lives near Salamanca,GTO,she got stung by a scorpion yesterday,she had a bad reaction and had to go to a hospital,they gave her some anti venenum suero,she's okay now. There were 3 other people there who also had been stung.